Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Bill Bowen to Supreme Court

Talk is picking up that retired banker Bill Bowen, 86, is in line to be tapped by Gov. Mike Beebe to serve in place of retiring Supreme CourtJustice Annabelle Clinton Imber until election of her successor next year. Bowen's legal, business and political resume is lengthy and distinguished.

A historian will have to determine if he'd be the oldest member of the court. (The late Justice George Rose Smith, who retired in 1987 after 38 years on the bench, was a mere pup of 76 when he stepped down.)

"There is no questioning Bill Bowen's integrity, knowledge and experience," Governor Beebe said. "Along with his inability to remain retired, Arkansas again has the chance to benefit from Bill's willingness to serve. He is truly an Arkansas institution."

A World War II Navy veteran, Bowen, 86, started his legal career as a tax attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in the 1950s. He returned to Arkansas and spent 17 years in private practice before entering the banking world, where he found success for the next 20 years. Governor Bill Clinton asked Bowen to become his Chief of Staff in 1991, a position he held until Clinton left to become President. In 1995, Bowen was named Dean of the UALR School of Law, and the school was named in his honor five years later.

The appointment, effective January 1, will fill one year of the unexpired term of Justice Annabelle Clinton Imber, who announced her retirement in September. A special election next year will determine who serves the remainder of Imber's term, which ends in 2014.

Welcome to Arkansas: Land of cowardly politicians, discriminatory laws, inhumane turkey drops and lots and lots of Trump voters.

If he can't kill it outright, Donald Trump will do all he can to cripple Obamacare. Vox has detailed reporting on deep cuts in federal spending that support nonprofit agencies that help people sign up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson apparently felt the burn from KARK's exclusive Tuesday night on his plans to cut state support of War Memorial Stadium in half beginning July 1, 2018. He has a so-far secret plan to make the stadium self-sustaining. We bet that doesn't include state support.

The State Police say Brett McCullough, 52, of Hot Springs, was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding a bicycle about 8:47 p.m. Wednesday on Highway 70 West (Airport Road) in Hot Springs.

Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Bart Virden of Morrilton, who narrowly survived attack ads by an outside partisan group supporting his opponent for re-election to a nonpartisan seat, doesn't intend to let the matter drop.

Enjoy these photos from today's dedication and re-installation of a new Ten Commandments monument. The first iteration of the monument was installed last June but destroyed within the next 24 hours when it was rammed by a man in a Dodge Dart.